HiFi satisfaction and/ or Musical enjoyment

"Oh my goodness!"

It’s inevitable that in these Forums certain topics will reappear with regularity.  Thee OP has however written a thoughtful post and I don’t like seeing the incoming that he drew.  I hope he sticks around and continues to contribute.

  I was out of touch with music for about 3 weeks and have now returned home.  My living room has a mid fi system and yes, it sounded heavenly.  The following day I was in my dedicated room with the big rig  and it went to another level.

  I was in Bordeaux at the end of my 3 weeks in France.  After a few days of St. Emilion 2007 my Chicago home had one bottle of red from a Southern Illinois winery.  Let’s just say that the difference in enjoyment from my mid to HES was not as profound as the oenophile letdown 

Where did OP go? Did he/she not stick around because of the less than supportive responsive comments at first? Still being a newb with only a couple hundred posts compared with others in the thousands, I can relate. Early on I may have sometimes come away miffed that something I posted was met with criticism or ridicule. In those moments I had a choice, ether fade away or keep plowing ahead in a form I generally enjoy, in a hobby I truly love.

one of my dads legacies to me and my brother was he taught us how to sail. We as a family have hundred of hours of amazing memories. My dad’s sailboat was pretty stout, slow and made up of rigging and gear that was either well worn or found second hand. Did that in any way decrease our enjoyment? Absolutely not! There were several of of my dad’s friends who had the latest Jboats, with all the high dollar gear. They used to try and get under my dad’s skin about how much faster or better their boats were. Didn’t bother my dad one bit. And this was back in the day when someone actually had to have the guts to say it right to his face 😜.
He was in love with the experience, not the gadgets. And I would argue just as good under sail as anyone. He had a saying that I use all the time, and it’s applicable in many situations. “If your house falls down, do you blame he hammer or the carpenter?”

I guess my point is I know what music i like, what I like about my system, and just enjoy the process and AG. I try and do the next right thing, treat others with kindness, and if I dont have anything nice to say, I say nothing.

I think it is great that he found a path to happiness.  I did not think it was really preaching to all of us and suggesting any other approach is wrong.  Although he did not specify what was in the dedicated room system, it might well be that he stumbled upon an entirely different sound with the likes of the Cornwall speakers. 

If one is not familiar with the sound of high efficiency speakers, like horn systems and wide-range driver systems, the sound can be a revelation.  There is a lot of life, energy, and micro-dynamics that many high end speakers don't deliver (they tend to sound more polite and drab).  Pair high efficiency speakers with low-powered tube amps and that steps things up a notch or two.  The sound of these kinds of speaker seem to grab your attention and make you want to listen longer without losing interest and focus.

Yes, the Cornwall does have some tonal balance issues and it is a little rough sounding, but, if you are in tune with its virtues, these issues can be forgiven.  I don't want to cause trouble for someone who is pleased with their purchase and thinks he is out of the rat race, but, there are plenty of other alternatives delivering this type of sound that I think are much better, but, many are considerably higher in price.  Cornwalls can be considered entry level in this world; don't go looking if you are afraid of stirring the beast in you.

As I stated on another thread.

The point of high fidelity is to be able to hear what the artist intended. Therefore, the dichotomy between “listening to music” and “listening to audio” is false. The latter is at the service of the former.

My “bad” recordings sound better on good audio. They may be bad but at least I am hearing with greater accuracy what was put into the grooves. It makes no sense to listen to bad recordings on a middling system, that simply compounds the problem.

These days I never listen to music as background. I have a dedicated room, and I dedicate time.

It seems to me that few people know how to listen anymore. I find that to be true when I have guests up to theaudioatticvinylsundays.com . Even though I insist that people turn off their cell phones AND put them in a basket, half of them are still fidgety, have to ask questions or otherwise talk when the music is on, etc.